Hey all..thanks for reading...it really has been a long time since my last post. I am not really sure it is because I haven't had anything good to write, but that I have had not had the time to sit and write. It has been a very busy year. Right now it is 5:30am and I am writing. Well let me just get to it:
Yesterday was a huge day in the life of St. Louis Cardinals baseball fans. Our Iconic first baseman Albert Pujols signed a HUGE contract!...with the Anaheim Angels. Yes, that is right, we lost possibly the best player in baseball to a huge contract. $254 million dollars over 10 years. Holy cow that is a lot of money. Many people including me had some initial reactions to that signing. Greed and betrayal were words being tossed about. My thoughts were not totally about greed (although I did believe that was part of the motivation). I began to think of potential pitfalls of this deal for Albert. He his a professing believer and by all accounts both public and private (by individuals I know and trust who know him) he is genuine. I thought of Scriptures like 1 Timothy 6:10 where it talks of the Love of money being the root of evil. That is a reasonable and fair Scriptural warning about the dangers of wealth. And I think they still apply. After all this deal had to be all about the money...right? After all he did say in February of this year he wanted to be a Cardinal for Life...right? So what changed? Is he greedy or just a liar?
Well, maybe not either. Here is what I am thinking and you may not agree but as I tell people all the time, "you have the right to be wrong if you want" :-). I want to relate this to you and I believe God has shaken it out in my mind so bare with me, I am really not just rambling, but remember it is 5:30am!
In January of 2000, Joann and I were called to serve the Pilgrims Rest Baptist Church in Ware Missouri. It was my first Pastorate, I was excited. When we arrived on field my wish and my desire was to serve there until I retired. I can recall making several "public" statements to that fact. I had no intention of moving anywhere else. We were home and we loved it there. Well it is 2011 now and I am writing from my living room in Wright City, Missouri. I am now the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Wright City (where I fully intend to serve until I retire). Did I lie then? Am I lying now? NO!! In late 2007 God began to do some things to cause me unrest in a position in which I was fully satisfied and happy. He did all that to move me to this town and this church. I have no doubt in my mind that I am where God wants me to be! Some very painful things had to happen in my life to make me willing to move to make me want to move and God made those things happen to get me where he wanted me. Now we didn't leave for Millions of dollars, in fact it was what many would call a "lateral" move. The new church was about the same size as the old church and our salary was about the same. God just had to make me so unhappy I had to move and he did! And I am thankful! What does it take to get any of us to leave a job we love? More money? Better Benefits? Better Schools? More opportunity? Just being generally unhappy? What does it take?
Now back to Albert...was he lying in February when he said he wanted to be a a Cardinal for life? Maybe not...let me ask a question if it is true that Albert loved St. Louis and believed it was truly the best baseball city in America and he wanted to stay here for the rest of his career and it is true that Albert loves the Lord and is a man of prayer and God wanted him to move to LA, what was it going to take to make that happen? Could it be $254 million dollars? I mean Miami came in and offered Albert 10 years Over $200 Million and he didn't jump. I mean to get him to leave this city was going to take a TON of money. This team in LA to come in and offered an astronomical amount of money that the Cardinals would not match and could not match. Could it be that God simply used this contract situation to take another one of his Kingdom assets and move it where He wanted it to be? Let's be honest LA isn't exactly overflowing with influential Christians. Maybe, just maybe God wanted Albert in LA and has arranged the details to make that happen. Does that stink for us here as Cardinal fans? ABSOLUTELY! But in the grand scheme of things we are really talking about eternity!
Just a thought...thanks for reading my rambling...
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Chad
Friday, December 9, 2011
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